Single-Nucleus Polycrystallization in Thin Film Epitaxial Growth

Journal Article · Fri Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.98.046104· OSTI ID:20861648

Sadowski, J T; Nishikata, S; Al-Mahboob, A; Fujikawa, Y; Nakajima, K; Sakurai, T ^[1]; Sazaki, G ^[1]; Tromp, R M ^[2]

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1. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan)
2. IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitachawan Road, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 (United States)

We have observed, by use of low-energy electron microscopy, the first direct evidence of self-driven polycrystallization evolved from a single nucleus in the case of epitaxial pentacene growth on the Si(111)-H terminated surface. In this Letter we demonstrate that such polycrystallization can develop in anisotropic systems (in terms of crystal structure and/or the intermolecular interactions) when kinetic growth conditions force the alignment of the intrinsic preferential growth directions along the density gradient of diffusing molecules. This finding gives new insight into the crystallization of complex molecular systems, elucidating the importance of nanoscale control of the growth conditions.

• OSTI ID: 20861648
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.046104; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANISOTROPY
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALLIZATION
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
EPITAXY
NANOSTRUCTURES
NUCLEI
PENTACENE
POLYCRYSTALS
THIN FILMS